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In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Bernard Hugonnier. For social and corporate excellence
A large number of educational establishments now have the ambition to be part of the higher education institutions, which are recognized as ”excellent” in their country and the world. But what does this mean? For example, is it a question of recruiting the best professors and of selecting the best students? of offering the best courses? of developing the best research? of obtaining the best results in exams? of better preparing students to quickly get a job after graduation? or of facilitating the success of the largest number?
For the time being, we increasingly witness the development of a kind of ‘elitist excellence’ consisting in:
1. For the students: a strong selection at the entry, a highlevel competition between them, important personal work, a very dynamic system aiming at assessing knowledge, strict monitoring of attendance, a strong participation of the students during courses, a certain international mobility (often an academic year spent abroad).
2. For the professors-researchers: a selection of the ‘best’ on the basis of their research work or of their professional functions, an important obligation to publish, a fixedterm contract with an obligation of show ‘results’ (usually translated in terms of number of publications), a strong competition between them, an external evaluation based on bibliometrics and scientometrics. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Juan-Luis Klein. For a perspective of social innovation focused on transformation: towards knowledge that changes the world
Pondering on social transformation through social innovation means thinking about how experiments, which take place in civil society, in agencies, sometimes marginally, result in the transformation of society. It is a reflection on the practices of citizens and organizations working for the wellbeing of communities by experimenting with solutions to problems, which have not been resolved by the existing institutional structure, and, in some cases, caused by the existing institutional structure. Are these practices confined only to the provision of a timely solution to the problems experienced by the communities or do they fall within broader, more comprehensive processes that transform society. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Michel Venne. Social Innovation: Challenges and Opportunities for Higher Education – Lessons from a Québécois Spring
Universities will not be able to survive the pressures of the demands from society if they do not adapt their educational services and their relationship with the communities they serve. In the spring of 2012, Québec was shaken by a social crisis triggered by the students’ protest movement about tuition fees.
From the disorder created by the nightly events and the monster rallies in downtown Montréal arose a much broader reflection.
Young and old spoke on the subject at the Summit on Higher Education, convened in the following months by the new government. Beyond the exchanges on university funding and management, emerged a vision of the betrothed university. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Ira Harkavy, Nancy Cantor and Myra Burnett. Realizing STEM Equity and Social Innovation through Higher Education-Community Engagement
Universities are key partners for generating knowledge, building intellectual capital, spurring innovation, and improving societal well-being. They are knowledge-advancing and problem-solving institutions that are charged with successfully educating leaders who will be at the cutting edge of innovation and change. Social innovations are certainly needed for promoting equity and diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the United States and around the globe.
A white paper on “Realizing STEM Equity and Diversity through Higher Education-Community Engagement,” supported by the National Science Foundation, was recently produced as part of an international project designed to reduce inequalities in STEM. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Norzaini Azman and Fauziah binti Haji Abu Hasan. Driving Social Innovation in Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT)
To maximise the impacts of research, universities must develop institutional capacity to support the transfer of knowledge to individuals and organisations outside of the academy. This transfer of knowledge is seen in a wider context at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT). It involves the process of transferring knowledge from research and scholarly work to relevant stakeholders. Specifically the transfer of knowledge in UMT is defined from the perspective of how knowledge is translated into “innovative products, processes and tools” and how they are made useful for the society. These “innovative products, processes and tools” can further be differentiated into three different forms: knowledge innovation; technological innovation and Social Innovation. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Roberto Esca. Science, technology and innovation. Universities and the social appropriation of science – the example of Mexico
The echo of citizens’ participation goes beyond politics and its actors. It is not only interested in choosing candidates, to define the items to be taken up in the legislative agenda or to give an opinion about the urban priorities. There are other things in which citizens are interested.
Despite the fact that on many occasions they are never consulted, citizens are also interested in science and technology. Despite the fact that public universities and the Mexican Academy of Science share scientific research outcomes with the public, on specific topics related to Research, Development and Innovation, this results in low impact on the public. The Mexican national poll on public perception of science 2009, showed a bias related to what participants understand by science. It said: “It helps to live artificially and in an inhuman way”. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Budd L Hall. Social Innovation, Power and Transformation: A Disquieting Conversation
The fog bank of social innovation has been moving inalterably from the oceans of social thought towards the shores of community organisations, local governments, and now to institutions of higher education. My concern is that both the discourse and the practice of social innovation seem to have found a breeze that carries them into our organisational lives in a largely unexamined and uncritical manner. I mean it all sounds so wonderful. The Stanford Center for Social Innovation defines social innovation as “a novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than present solutions and for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals.” (csi.gsb.stanford.edu). Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Francesc Xavier Grau and Maria Marques. Social Innovation and University Curricula
Social Innovation is a concept that is still in search of a consolidated definition. The European Union uses the definition given by Murray, Caulier-Grice and Mulgan in the Open Book of Social Innovation (March, 2010): “Social innovations are new ideas (products, services and models) that simultaneously meet social needs (more effectively than alternatives) and create new social relationships or collaborations”. Recently, on the blog he developed in the context of his UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education, Budd Hall questioned the definition used by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation: “a novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable or just, than present solutions and for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals.” In fact, the worries Budd Hall expresses show that there is a risk in only using a new name for an old concept whereas we embrace and consolidate the status quo, and lose an opportunity to make a difference, of effectively acting for a more just and sustainable society. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By Pornchai Mongkhonvanit and Yhing Sawheny. Social innovation, Roles, Challenges and Perspectives for Higher Education
Social Innovation is the new approach that permeates the ideas and concepts developed by all organizations (education, businesses and NGOs) to meet the social needs; these concern working conditions and education to community development and health care and aim at extending and strengthening the community living.
Social Innovation can be used as the advanced method in which the role of educational institutions can evolve the collaboration from society which is through engagement with communities that will allow academics and students to explore surrounding communities as a laboratory for their education in a real life environment. This will in turn create more linkages between academics and students and people in communities, whereby knowledge and skills are transcended into all stakeholders. Ultimately, educational institutions and communities can move together towards a more sustainable development that can provide momentum for social movement to drive social change for the betterment of the society. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.

In preparation for the IAU Global Meeting of Associations 6, this issue - IAU Horizons, 21, 1 - offers reports on IAU priority areas, new projects and initiatives, especially LGEU, and upcoming events and conferences.
By E. Nigel Harris. Regional University’s journey from Social Engagement to Social InnovationIn framing its 2012-2017 Strategic Plan, the University of the West Indies (UWI) amended its Mission statement to spell out more specifically the areas of societal development – social, economic, political, cultural, environmental— which as an institution, it would address. The statement reads:
To advance education and create knowledge through excellence in teaching, research, innovation, public service, intellectual leadership and outreach in order to support the inclusive (social, economic, political, cultural, environmental) development of the Caribbean region and beyond.
This statement and the accompanying Strategic Plan emphasised the university’s intention to pursue a more proactive and interventionist approach in societal development. It is true that the essential features of the statement may not differ from that of many other universities – a commitment to teaching, research and service – but specifying areas of engagement enables better documentation of the university’s contribution to the transformation of the countries it serves. Download IAU Horizons, 21, 1.